virtual reality

Back in 2014, before the first commercial VR headsets hit the market, Chinese company Dexta Robotics was already asking the hard questions: how do you implement user input and interaction without breaking the illusion of an immersive virtual reality world. Although its Dexmo Kickstarter was canceled, the company continued working on the idea of exoskeleton gloves for VR. And based on its latest video and PR materials, it seems quite ready to take the new Dexmo into the final phase of an actual, commercial product.

Laptops and notebooks are great for portable computing, but when you need the heavy artillery, you hare mostly out of luck. Unless you have one of those high performance gaming laptops that are so heavy and hot (literally) they might as well be desktops. Or you can back this Kickstarter almost ominously named the Wolfe, which gives Macs, MacBooks, or really any computer with a Thunderbolt 2 or 3 port, the graphics processing power to drive games as well as virtual reality experiences.

While virtual reality technology has admittedly become more accessible to consumers, not everything is actually affordable. Dedicated and sophisticated equipment like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are not something you'll buy on a whim. And neither is Nokia's professional VR camera, the OZO. As the Finnish company launches the product in China, it has also revealed the new price tag for this VR experience creator. And while significantly lower than last year's number, it's still something that only large companies will be able to afford.

Intel's Project Alloy might be the wireless virtual reality headset everyone is talking about at IDF 2016, but there's actually another take on the idea that's fresh from the company's labs. Where Project Alloy may rely on a full Core processor and graphics card inside its black and white body, Intel's prototype WiGig VR headset leaves the heavy lifting to a separate PC as normal, but simply cuts the cord.

NVIDIA's manufacturing partners will be ready to roll with GTX 10 processing power for laptop PCs very soon. NVIDIA's GTX 10 series graphics chips have been brought to notebooks in their original form - not just with lesser "M" iterations as they had in the past. These NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 notebooks are ready to run AAA games with high end graphics right out the box.

Intel isn't letting the Virtual Reality revolution getting away from it, but since it really wants to sell more chips, its Project Alloy headset packs a full VR rig into a standalone system. Shown off for the first time at IDF 2016, the company's developer conference in San Francisco, CA, today, Project Alloy looks at first glance like a regular - albeit bulky - headset, though that size is because it's actually a complete PC, too.

The team behind the Oculus Rift is gearing up to significantly expand its reach, announcing today that the VR headset will be available in Canada and Europe starting on September 20. Oculus Rift will also go up for pre-order in those regions through a variety of retail partners, so if you're inclined to reserve one before the Rift launches, you'll be able to do so beginning today.

Minecraft has been released for the virtual universe - it's now out for play on the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset as "Minecraft for Rift" through the Oculus Store. For users that already have the Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta, the update and upgrade to Minecraft for Rift is free - otherwise the game will cost users a cool $10 USD. This game is now available to explore "simultaneously, cross platform" on a wide variety of platforms: Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, iOS (iPhone, iPad), Android, and Windows 10.

The Galaxy Note 7 is definitely the new star of Samsung's lineup, but the anticipated device is also releasing alongside a revamped Gear VR. Both devices will be launching on the same day, and indeed, it sort of seems like Samsung is positioning these two as complimentary devices, meant to be purchased and used together. While we still have a little while to wait - both the Note 7 and the new Gear VR will be launching on August 19 - eager purchasers can now pre-order Gear VR from either Amazon or Samsung.

A virtual reality headset that won't make you look like a chap from an 80's sci-fi bomb movie and one that will really let you take the VR experience anywhere. That is probably what some VR fans are dreaming of at the moment. Luckily for them, A Chinese company by the name of Dlodlo ("dwo-dwo") is about ready to make that dream come true. First revealed in April, the Dlodlo V1 headset looks pretty much like somewhat larger sunglasses and it will be shipping to developers later this year. But while it does look like the epitome of a truly lightweight and portable VR headset, when it comes to virtual reality, looks can really be deceiving.

GoPro has confirmed the shipping date for its Omni 360-degree camera, a rig of the company's compact action cameras that's capable of filming fully spherical video. Announced back in April, Omni mounts six HERO4 Black cameras - pointing in six different directions - in an aluminum frame, and comes with software to stitch the resulting footage together into a single video that's viewable with a VR headset.

As hot or cool virtual reality may be right now, it is still primarily a solitary experience, especially considering how it visually and physically isolates your from everyone and everything else. Of course, there are attempts at making VR a more social experience, but, as the Internet has proven time again, adding more, sometimes anonymous, humans in a virtual space can spell trouble. That's why Google's VR-focused Daydream Labs has taken upon itself to delve into the virtual social problems of virtual reality, and suffice it to say, the answers are far from clear yet.